P. J. Tucker

From Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core
(Redirected from P.J. Tucker)
Jump to: navigation, search
P. J. Tucker
Pjtucker.jpg
Tucker in December 2012
No. 17 – Phoenix Suns
Position Small forward / Shooting guard
League NBA
Personal information
Born (1985-05-05) May 5, 1985 (age 39)
Raleigh, North Carolina
Nationality American
Listed height 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)
Listed weight 245 lb (111 kg)
Career information
High school Enloe (Raleigh, North Carolina)
College Texas (2003–2006)
NBA draft 2006 / Round: 2 / Pick: 35th overall
Selected by the Toronto Raptors
Playing career 2006–present
Career history
2006–2007 Toronto Raptors
2007 →Colorado 14ers (D-League)
2007–2008 Hapoel Holon (Israel)
2008–2010 Donetsk (Ukraine)
2010 Bnei HaSharon (Israel)
2010–2011 Aris Thessaloniki (Greece)
2011 Sutor Montegranaro (Italy)
2011 Piratas de Quebradillas (Puerto Rico)
2011–2012 Brose Baskets (Germany)
2012–present Phoenix Suns
Career highlights and awards

Anthony Leon "P. J." Tucker, Jr. (born May 5, 1985)[1] is an American professional basketball player for the Phoenix Suns of the National Basketball Association (NBA).

High school and college

A former college basketball player for the University of Texas, Tucker attended Enloe High School in Raleigh. In his three seasons at Texas, he scored 1,169 points, including a career-high 594 in the 2005-06 season. He also collected 714 rebounds and dished out 170 assists, including 107 in 2005–06. He posted 116 steals throughout his career. In that season, he was a Second Team All-American and the Big 12 Player of the Year.

Professional career

Tough beginnings and International career

Tucker was selected by the Toronto Raptors with the 35th pick in the 2006 NBA Draft and signed a two-year deal with them on July 26, 2006.

On January 5, 2007, the Raptors announced that Tucker had been sent to the Colorado 14ers of the NBA Development League. Colorado, led by head coach Joe Wolf, had been designated as Toronto's D-League affiliate for the 2006-07 season. On February 6, 2007, the Raptors recalled Tucker to the NBA. On March 6, 2007, Tucker was sent back to the 14ers.

On March 24, 2007, Tucker was waived by the Toronto Raptors in order to free up a roster spot for Luke Jackson.[2] He only played a total of 83 minutes during his only season with the Raptors. Tucker was also on the 2007 Summer League roster for the Cleveland Cavaliers.[3]

In the 2007–08 season with Hapoel Holon from Ligat Winner, Tucker won the MVP trophy and led his team to the league title. Holon broke Maccabi Tel Aviv's fourteen-year streak as Israeli champions.

For the 2008–09 season he signed with a BC Donetsk team[4] that was just promoted to the Ukrainian Basketball Super League.[5][6] He led the team to a current third place in the league at its first appearance there, as well as become a Ukrainian SuperLeague All-Star. A season ending knee injury didn't prevent Tucker from finishing the season with the highest average of points per game in the league.[7] On October 7, 2009 Tucker renewed his contract with Donetsk for the 2009-10 season.[8] After the team bankrupted he returned to Israel in March 2010 and signed for Bnei HaSharon until the end of the season.[9]

In August 2010, he signed with Aris BC for the 2010–11 season,[10] but he was released in March 2011.[11] In April 2011 he signed with Sutor Basket Montegranaro in Italy.[12]

In July 2011, he signed a one-year deal with Brose Baskets Bamberg of Germany.[13] He went on to help Brose Baskets win the 2012 championship; he also won the Finals MVP award.

Return to the NBA

During the summer of 2012, Tucker signed a contract to play for Spartak St. Petersburg of Russia. However, he soon opted out of that contract to play for the Phoenix Suns' NBA Summer League team, and on August 1, 2012, he signed with the Suns on a two-year deal, with a team option on his second year.[14] In his first game back in the NBA, Tucker recorded 10 points, 2 rebounds, 1 steal and 1 block in a close 87-85 loss to the Golden State Warriors. He has since been a regular part of the Suns' rotation as a means to bring in defensive stops or motivate the team's defense when necessary. On November 9, 2012, Tucker recorded 8 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 steals in a 107-105 upset victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers. Tucker scored a career-high 15 points to go with 7 rebounds and 3 assists in a close 111-108 overtime victory over the New Orleans Hornets on November 23, 2012. Tucker made his first start for the Suns on December 31, 2012 against the Oklahoma City Thunder and started majority of the Suns' games for the rest of the 2012–13 NBA season.[15]

In a 122-109 home victory over the Golden State Warriors on February 8, 2014, Tucker finished with 16 points, 15 rebounds, and 4 steals. He became the first Suns player since Shawn Marion in 2007 to finish with a game with at least 15 points, 15 rebounds, and 4 steals.[16] Tucker grabbed a career-high 16 rebounds in a loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on February 25, 2014, joining Charles Barkley and Jason Kidd as the only Suns players 6'6" or shorter to grab 16 rebounds in a single game.[17] On April 6, 2014, Tucker scored a career-high 22 points in a 122–115 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder.[18]

On June 27, 2014, the Suns extended a qualifying offer to Tucker, thus making him a restricted free agent.[19] On July 23, 2014, Tucker re-signed with the Suns[20] to a reported three-year, $16.5 million contract.[21] In August 2014, he was suspended for the first three games of the 2014–15 season without pay for pleading guilty to driving while under the extreme influence in May 2014.[22] He returned from suspension on November 4, 2014 to face the Los Angeles Lakers.[23]

On December 31, 2015, Tucker tied his career-high of 22 points in a loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder.[24]

NBA career statistics

Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field goal percentage  3P%  3-point field goal percentage  FT%  Free throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  Bold  Career high

Regular season

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2006–07 Toronto 17 0 4.9 .500 .000 .571 1.4 .2 .1 .0 1.8
2012–13 Phoenix 79 45 24.2 .473 .314 .744 4.4 1.4 .8 .2 6.4
2013–14 Phoenix 81 81 30.7 .431 .387 .776 6.5 1.7 1.4 .3 9.4
2014–15 Phoenix 78 63 30.6 .438 .345 .727 6.4 1.6 1.4 .3 9.1
Career 255 189 26.9 .445 .357 .748 5.5 1.5 1.1 .3 7.9

Personal

Tucker is the son of Anthony and Aleshia Tucker. Tucker spent a portion of his childhood living in Germany while his father served in the Army.[1]

In May 2014, Tucker was arrested for "super-extreme DUI" by Scottsdale police. As a result of his "super-extreme DUI," Tucker received a three-day jail sentence, as well as eleven days of house detention. In addition, an ignition interlock device was placed on his vehicles for eighteen months, he was placed on five-year probation, be subject to substance abuse screening and counseling, and pay $2,750 in fines, not including court and jail costs of up to $200 per day.[25]

Footwear

Tucker is a self-proclaimed "sneakerhead" and stores hundreds of pairs of basketball shoes in at least 4 different locations across the country.[26] He endorses the Nike and Air Jordan brands is known to wear many different models of basketball shoes on the court throughout each NBA season. Some of the basketball shoe models Tucker has worn in NBA games include the Nike Zoom Huarache 2K4, Nike Kyrie 1, Air Jordan Retro 8 (VIII), Air Jordan Retro 5 (V), Air Jordan Retro 6 (VI) Air Jordan Retro 7 (VII), Air Jordan Retro 2 (II), Air Jordan Retro 3 (III), Air Jordan Retro 9 (IX), Air Jordan Retro 11 (XI) Low, Air Jordan Retro 14 (XIV), and Nike Kobe X (10).[27]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Prospect Profile: P.J. Tucker
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ NBA.com : Summer League 2007
  4. ↑ Profile on bc.donetsk.ua
  5. ↑ http://one.co.il/Article/122133.html
  6. ↑ http://www.bc.donetsk.ua/news/show.php?ID=3353
  7. ↑ http://ukrbasket.net/fbu/en/statistics/men/superleague/ave/pts
  8. ↑ Таккер – снова донецкий «тигр»! (Ukrainian)
  9. ↑ טאקר בשרון! (Hebrew)
  10. ↑ Aris Thessaloniki and P.J. Tucker reach a two-year agreement
  11. ↑ ΑΝΑΚΟΙΝΩΣΗ ΚΑΕ ΑΡΗΣ (Greek)
  12. ↑ PJ Tucker alla Fabi Shoes: altro sforzo della Triade (Italian)
  13. ↑ Brose Baskets adds scoring ace Tucker
  14. ↑ Suns Sign P.J. Tucker
  15. ↑ Notebook: Thunder 114, Suns 96
  16. ↑ Where are they now: Last year's Phoenix Suns are "all happy now"
  17. ↑ Game-day Orange Slices for Suns-Jazz with rewind on Suns-Wolves
  18. ↑ Notebook: Suns 122, Thunder 115
  19. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  20. ↑ Suns Re-Sign P.J. Tucker
  21. ↑ P.J. Tucker Signs Three-Year, $16.5M Deal With Suns
  22. ↑ P.J. Tucker Suspended Three Games By NBA For Extreme DUI
  23. ↑ Phoenix Suns beat Lakers 112-106 despite Kobe's 39
  24. ↑ #SunsAtThunder By the Numbers: December 31
  25. ↑ Suns' P.J. Tucker receives jail time for DUI, apologizes to fans
  26. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  27. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

Script error: The function "top" does not exist.

Script error: The function "bottom" does not exist.

Retrieved from "https://infogalactic.com/w/index.php?title=P._J._Tucker&oldid=5092119"